Vietnam: World Aids Day celebrated

HANOI: ‘One House’, the second part of the play ‘Three in one’, featuring the lives of HIV/AIDS patients will be performed at the Kim Ma Theatre in Hanoi on Thursday night to mark World AIDS Day on Dec 1.

Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reports that the show, organised by the Vietnam National Dramma Theatre and The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar), is part of activities during the national action month for HIV/ AIDS prevention and control from Nov 10 - Dec 10, themed ‘Towards 90-90-90 targets’.

The show will hit several provinces and cities during the month, including the central provinces of Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Da Nang city, according to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office.

Other activities include the 5th national press award on HIV/ AIDS to be held in Bac Ninh on Dec 9, and meetings and parades across the nation.

A conference will be held to discuss payment for national procurement of Anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy sourced from health insurance, and provide support for patients treated with ARVs.

According to the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, Vietnam has reduced the number of people with HIV to below 0.3 per cent of the population.

In the fist half of this year, as many as 3,684 new HIV cases were detected.

In 2015, the figure was about 10,000. HIV-linked deaths also declined from 3,200 to 2,000 during the past five years.

In 2014, Vietnam was the first Asian nation to commit to the ‘90-90-90 target’ set by the UN Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) to end HIV/AIDS in Vietnam by 2020.

The programme calls for 90 per cent of all people living with HIV to know their HIV status, 90 per cent of all people diagnosed with HIV receiving sustained antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and 90 per cent of people on ARV treatment having durable viral suppression by 2020. — Bernama